Senior Congress leader and former Deputy Chief Minister of Rajasthan Sachin Pilot on Monday (April 13) alleged that the BJP government of Rajasthan is weakening democracy at the grassroots level by delaying the local body and panchayat elections. He said that this step has been taken due to fear of defeat.
Sachin Pilot said that the delay in local elections in many states is a matter of concern and the situation in Rajasthan reflects a ‘concerted effort’ to avoid democratic accountability. He said, “There are administrators in cities and villages, but they are not able to effectively solve the everyday problems of the people. There is a widespread demand for early elections.”
Elections were not conducted despite the deadline – Pilot
The former Deputy Chief Minister alleged that after the BJP government came to power, elections for student union, municipal bodies and panchayat institutions were not conducted. He said, “Our party has been continuously demanding that elections should be held soon. Despite the court’s instructions and the deadline of April 15, elections were not held. It is not clear what the Election Commission and the government are doing.”
MNREGA almost closed in Rajasthan- Pilot
Pilot said that there is a general feeling that the BJP government does not want to hold elections because the results will not be in their favour, due to this fear the elections are being postponed again and again by making excuses. He also targeted the central government and said that the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MNREGA) has almost stopped in Rajasthan and has been weakened across the country.
He said, “In the villages I visited, MNREGA work is almost at a standstill. We had already warned that changing the names of the schemes is an excuse to weaken them. When the Congress was in power, lakhs of people were benefited, but today the scheme is almost defunct.”
Government is not giving enough money for rural development- Pilot
Pilot alleged that the government was not allocating enough funds for rural development and was focusing more on management through advertisements rather than actual governance. Questioning the employment claims of the state government, he said that four lakh jobs were promised in the first budget. Now that two and a half years have passed, how many people have actually got employment?